In this episode, I talk about the storm of a bad day.I talk about the weight we carry when we expect every day to be OK all the time, the quiet damage of beating ourselves up, and the small things that can ease the load a bit.This is a lookback on why it’s alright to feel low sometimes, how to share the struggle, and the simple truth that tomorrow always gives you another chance.✨ Get this episode’s transcript: https://www.patreon.com/posts/its-ok-to-have-137403297🧠 Today We Learn:Vocabulary: Emotions & Mood, Thinking & HonestyGrammar: Subjunctive for Hypothetical Advice / Desire to express advice, importance, or desire, often after verbs like 'suggest', 'insist', or adjectives like 'vital', Contrastive Focus with 'do' to give strong emphasis or stressing truth, Bare Conditionals to drop 'if' and invert the subject and auxiliary, often for formal or dramatic effect.🐣 Too difficult? Search:“Beginner English with James” (beginner)“Slow English with James” (intermediate)
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5:52
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5:52
My Favourite Smells
In this episode, a smell hangs in the air that catches you mid-step, cuts through the day, and takes you somewhere you weren’t expecting.I walk through these moments: petrol on a cold service station forecourt, the sea before you see it, the green breath of the ground after rain, and the warm weight of a scent you can’t quite name.This is a slow wander through memory, the way certain smells outlast the years, and the quiet joy of letting them hold you for a while.Linguistically, it features adjectival post-position, nominalised clauses as subjects, and resumptive modifiers - structures that add texture, depth, and rhythm to advanced storytelling.If you’ve ever been pulled somewhere far away by nothing more than the air around you, this one’s for you.✨ Get this episode’s transcript: https://www.patreon.com/posts/my-favourite-17-136764083🧠 Today We Learn:Vocabulary: Smells & Senses, Memory & Emotion Triggers, Movement & Smell ActionsGrammar: Adjectival Post-Position to sound more poetic, rhythmic, or descriptive, Nominalised Clauses as Subjects to make an abstract idea the main focus of the sentence, Resumptive Modifiers to repeats a noun (or pronoun) and add extra detail or commentary after it.🐣 Too difficult? Search:“Beginner English with James” (beginner)“Slow English with James” (intermediate)
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7:45
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7:45
A British Sunday dinner
In this episode, we’re back home on Sunday in the late afternoon.There’s the smell of roast potatoes in the air, gravy bubbling on the stove, steam on the windows, someone shouting for more Yorkshire puddings from the other room.I talk through these memories of the British Sunday roast: a meal woven into our national story.This episode is a warm plate of tradition, comfort, and class history from medieval feasts to factory families to vegan gravy in a French bar on a rainy day.If you’ve ever missed the taste of a meal from home, this one’s for you!🧠 Today We Learn:Vocabulary: Food & Cooking, Home, Comfort & Family Life, Informal & Colloquial Expressions, Sensory LanguageGrammar: Left dislocation for emphasis or clarity by placing the topic at the start of the sentence, followed by a pronoun that refers back to it, Ellipsis in coordinate clauses to avoid repetition and create more natural, flowing speech by omitting repeated words in joined clauses, Negative question tags to seek agreement or confirmation in a conversational, often rhetorical way, Inferred conditionals to suggest a conditional idea without using the word if, creating a more subtle or idiomatic tone.✨ Get this episode’s transcript: https://www.patreon.com/posts/136038150📲 Follow me, Get transcripts, Book a class with me: https://linktr.ee/jamesbradleyenglish🐣 Too difficult? Search:“Beginner English with James” (beginner)“Slow English with James” (intermediate)
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7:53
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7:53
A British cup of tea
In this episode, we’re in the kitchen.There’s steam on the window. Rain outside. The clink of a spoon against a mug.We follow the journey of tea, from ancient leaves in China to builder’s brews on British scaffolding.It’s a story of empire, class, comfort, and quiet ritual. Of arguments over milk, sugar, and whether a proper cuppa needs a teapot.I walk you through the history, the culture, and the method - not the fancy stuff, but the real stuff.If you’ve ever wondered why Brits care so much about tea… this one’s for you.🧠 Today We Learn:Vocabulary: Tea & Food, Home & Everyday Life, British Idioms & Everyday SpeechGrammar: Mixed Conditionals to talk about an unreal past and its effect on the present, Right Dislocation / Displacement to add emphasis or make speech feel more natural and conversational.✨ Get this episode’s transcript: https://www.patreon.com/posts/135320912📲 Follow me, Get transcripts, Book a class with me: https://linktr.ee/jamesbradleyenglish🐣 Too difficult? Search:“Beginner English with James” (beginner)“Slow English with James” (intermediate)
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8:18
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8:18
My Folding Bike
In this episode, we’re riding home on a wonky second-hand bike - it folds in half, squeaks on corners, and makes you feel slightly ridiculous.This is a story about bad bike rental schemes, stolen wheels, and the quiet pride of holding your own against Lycra-clad cyclists on carbon frames.It’s also about learning to live with things that wobble, fix what’s broken, and find freedom in the awkward.Linguistically, it’s packed with UK slang, casual phrasal verbs, and metaphors born from movement: folding, snapping, setting up, sticking it in the boot.If you’ve ever been proud of your own bicycle, then this one’s for you!🧠 Today We Learn:Vocabulary: Everyday Action Phrasal Verbs, Bike & Transport, British Slang & Informal English, Idiomatic ExpressionsGrammar: Compressed noun phrases (to pack multiple ideas into tight, efficient units), Relative clauses with prepositions at the end (to make speech sound more natural and conversational), Ellipsis and substitution for cohesion (to avoid repetition and keep the flow natural).✨ Get this episode’s transcript: https://www.patreon.com/posts/134435865📲 Follow me, Get transcripts, Book a class with me: https://linktr.ee/jamesbradleyenglish🐣 Too difficult? Search:“Beginner English with James” (beginner)“Slow English with James” (intermediate)
About Everyday English with James (Advanced Native English Listening Practice)
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